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Beat

Play trailer Poster for Beat R Released Jan 29, 2000 1h 29m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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57% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The true story of two murders that shaped the lives of several college students who went on to become some of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation.
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Beat

Critics Reviews

View All (7) Critics Reviews
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader Ron Livingston is excellent as Ginsberg, the film's de facto narrator, and Kiefer Sutherland is admirably restrained in the role of Burroughs. Apr 7, 2010 Full Review Caffeinated Clint Moviehole Put it out of it's misery, please? Rated: 2/5 Mar 11, 2006 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 3/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Aug 11, 2005 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 3/5 Dec 8, 2002 Full Review Christopher Null Filmcritic.com Rated: 3/5 Oct 22, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (44) audience reviews
Liam D It has a great cast but the story isn’t that interesting Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/05/24 Full Review Felicia I started to watch just for Norman Reedus but it turned out to be a really good movie, would recommend to many others! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/11/23 Full Review Audience Member enjoyable historical/bio-pic my 1 complaint? Sutherland is horribly miscast as Burroughs he hasn't the height or the skinniness of the real Burroughs. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Enjoyed the movie! A nice footnote of the Beat Generation. The movie was more about Joan Vollmer and her relationship with the rest of the gang (Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, and William S Burroughs). If your expecting a more in depth story about the Beat Generation or any of its members, you'll be disappointed. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member What this film is trying to achieve is to give a picture of the Beat scene before any of the writing was done. Centered around Joan Wollmer Adams' NYC apartment, the beat triumvirate are assembled and serious. Lucien Carr's murder of David Kemmerer is turned into a novel co-written by Burroughs and Kerouac (not released till after Carr's death, probably for legal reasons). Kill Your Darlings, by the way, treats this time period also. The Mexico, D.F. visit plays up the romantic involvement between Carr and Joan. Courtney Love actually does a decent job in this movie, but it is far from historical. So, the claims of "a true story" are exaggerated. In terms of production quality, even with first string actors, the film has at times a college-movie feel to it. Ironic that Ms. Love, who in the blogosphere might have had a hand in Cobain's untimely demise, is herself cast as a victim in a creative couple. By the way, all the time spent with Joan (Love) typing and writing is sort of interpolated. Whatever she may have been she wasn't a beat poet. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member An impressive cast. That's about it. Unless you know the story of these figures already or saw another 'beat' related movie, then you will be lost and not care. This is mostly due to total lack of character backstory or development. I wonder how they managed to even get this cast together for this movie. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Beat

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Cast & Crew

The Virgin Suicides 80% 81% The Virgin Suicides Watchlist TRAILER for The Virgin Suicides Light It Up 40% 76% Light It Up Watchlist Prozac Nation 29% 58% Prozac Nation Watchlist Steal This Movie 51% 71% Steal This Movie Watchlist Topsy-Turvy 90% 79% Topsy-Turvy Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis The true story of two murders that shaped the lives of several college students who went on to become some of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation.
Director
Gary Walkow
Producer
Donald Zuckerman, Andrew Pfeffer, Alain Silver
Screenwriter
Gary Walkow
Production Co
Pfilmco, Beat, LLC, Martien Holdings A.V.V., Background Productions, Walking Pictures, Millenium Pictures, Pendragon Film
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 29, 2000, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 1, 2009
Runtime
1h 29m
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